A Waldorf man says he’s carrying a horseshoe in his pocket this year after claiming his second $50,000 Maryland Lottery prize of 2026, this time on a Bonus Match 5 quick pick ticket.
The Charles County resident visited Maryland Lottery headquarters in Baltimore on July 30 to collect the prize, months after winning a separate second-chance promotion earlier in the year. A weekly player for more than two decades, he said Multi-Match remains his favorite game, though he occasionally branches out to Bonus Match 5 and scratch-off tickets — a habit that paid off after the July 17 drawing, when his quick pick ticket matched all five numbers drawn.
He said he didn’t immediately grasp the size of his win. Scanning the ticket produced an unusual result: “Winner. See Retailer.” “As a longtime player, I knew that meant I had won something,” he said. “I just didn’t know how much.” The retailer confirmed the $50,000 prize, and he headed home to celebrate, keeping the news mostly to family so far. He said he plans to buy his wife a new car and take her on vacation, with any remaining winnings set aside for the family.
He bought the winning ticket at the Dash In at 2007 Smallwood Drive in Waldorf, which will receive a $500 bonus — 1% of the prize amount — for selling the winning ticket. The same Dash In location has produced Bonus Match 5 top-prize winners before; Maryland Lottery has previously flagged a separate $50,000 winning ticket sold at the store in past drawings.
Bonus Match 5 has been part of Maryland’s lottery lineup since it first launched in the mid-1990s, later returning in its current format in 2002. Players choose five numbers from 1 to 39, or opt for a quick pick, for a chance at the game’s fixed $50,000 top prize, with a bonus ball drawn from the remaining numbers offering additional prize chances for tickets that don’t match all five. The odds of matching all five numbers and winning the top prize stand at 1 in 575,757 on a standard $1 play, while the overall odds of winning any prize in the game are a comparatively favorable 1 in 52. Drawings are held nightly, giving the game a faster prize cycle than weekly draw games like Powerball or Mega Millions.
Bonus Match 5 has produced a steady stream of Southern Maryland winners in recent years. A La Plata construction worker won the game’s $50,000 top prize after a routine stop for food, describing himself as a casual player who buys tickets about once a week, and a Virginia woman visiting her father in Maryland separately won $50,000 on a Bonus Match 5 quick pick picked up during a grocery run.
Maryland Lottery winners have 182 days from the date of a drawing to claim their prize, either in person at Lottery headquarters or, for smaller prizes, directly through a retailer. Proceeds from Maryland Lottery games flow into the state’s General Fund, supporting public education, health care and other state programs; the lottery has contributed more than $20.7 billion to the state since its founding in 1973.
The Waldorf winner’s second big prize of the year continues a run of six-figure and near-six-figure luck for Charles County players in 2026, following a Powerball win reported earlier this month by another Waldorf resident and a series of scratch-off and draw-game prizes claimed across the county throughout the year. Maryland Lottery officials have said such repeat local wins are largely a function of population and play volume rather than any particular pattern, though they make for popular storylines in the agency’s regular winner announcements.
Maryland Lottery also runs a range of second-chance promotions that give players another shot at winning after a losing ticket, tied to specific draw games or scratch-off releases and often culminating in televised drawings or trips for finalists. Those promotions have delivered their own share of Southern Maryland winners this year, adding another avenue beyond straightforward ticket purchases through which regular players can land a significant prize.
